Snake Update
 

Ok, following on from my original thread here is an update on her ladyship...

I aquired 'Mojo' from a reptile centre where she had been handed back by an owner who hadn't anticipated her growth potential. Unfortunately this is more common than you might think and part of the reason zoos and wildlife parks have no shortage of supply of large pythons.

Anyway, here she is when I first got her at the beginning of June at 5ft and looking rather skinny!

http://www.drift.net/herpetology/mojo_12.06.05.jpg

It turned out she also had mites which became apparent at her first shed. Two trips to the vet and two shots of ivermectin (the stuff they pour on cows and sheep to worm them!) later and hopefully we seem to have got the problem under control as they can be notious to get rid of!

10 large rats and 10 weeks later she is now 6'5"! :eek:

http://www.drift.net/herpetology/mojo_21.08.05.jpg

As you can see she has also bulked up some. I suspect the previous owners were underfeeding her in an attempt to control her growth! :mad:

Aswell as various other things these snakes are prone to constipation if they haven't been looked after properly, particularly if their temperature hasn't been regulated well. Too little temperature and they cannot digest their food properly, too much and they de-hydrate. The aim is to provide a thermal gradient so the snake can thermoregulate itself by choosing where to bask.

As I was unaware of her history, what her normal bowel rythms were etc. I was a little anxious when, after 8 weeks and 8 rats, nothing had come out the other end!

Palpating her I couldn't feel any hardened faeces which is the real worry, but she still wasn't going. Then one day I came home after work to find a huge puddle of urine. I took her out to clean up, and when I was finished I turned around to see this.... (not for the squeamish! :D )....








http://www.drift.net/herpetology/mojolog.jpg

:D

I don't know whether I was more dismayed over her chosen location, or pleased that she had finally done the business! Not a bad effort considering the relative size! :D

Work on the new vivarium almost complete now. I am just waiting to have a guard for the heaters fabricated out of steel mesh and powder coated and she can move in!

Vivarium pics to follow...

Cripes! :eek:

gorgeous looking burm that mate, i use to keep alot of burms myself!!

im looking for an albino now! starting back up again due to selling up last year for financial reasons!!

jeez if i`d poo`d that out i`d` wanna measure it too!

www.ratemypoo.com

I bet with SN backing it'd get to number one (or should that be two :D )


So is that all that's left of 10 rats then?

Vivarium Pics...

Starting to tear a hold in the wall of the cupboard!
http://www.drift.net/herpetology/1.jpg

Bigger hole! :D
http://www.drift.net/herpetology/2.jpg

Stud wall moved back to provide 8' x 4' floor space
http://www.drift.net/herpetology/3.jpg

Boarding in 12mm external grade ply (plasterboard != python proof! :D )
http://www.drift.net/herpetology/4.jpg

Boarding complete
http://www.drift.net/herpetology/5.jpg

Filled and painted
http://www.drift.net/herpetology/6.jpg

2 x 250W tubular heaters installed, shelf started (not sure if she will use the shelf, but its there if she fancies a climb!)
http://www.drift.net/herpetology/7.jpg

Shelf complete and painted, UPVC doors fitted
http://www.drift.net/herpetology/8.jpg

Lino laid and sealed
http://www.drift.net/herpetology/9.jpg

Electrics pulled through
http://www.drift.net/herpetology/10.jpg

Pulse proportional thermostat and light timer wired and ready to go!
http://www.drift.net/herpetology/11.jpg

LOL! Yep, that's 8 rats worth.... if you count the segments you can almost tally each one with a rat! :D

The white stuff is urates, basically crystallised salts of uric acid

Excellent! What sort of size are you looking for? There was an 7 or 8 footer at my local reptile centre last time I was there!

Lets see if it gets past moderation! :D

Imagine having to sift through pages of poos every day! :eek: The mods here have it easy! :D

PMSL @ "filename: mojolog.jpg"

:D

Bet you needed a keg of Scrumpy and a spliff after finding that turd, carefull that it dont get on your Megadeth t'shirt !

Seriously though, impressive housepet !

Why thank you! :D

I'll be letting her out to feed on wildlife like cats and children and things when she's a little bigger because as any cat owner will attest, it's "cruel" not to.... ;) :p

LOL! :D

Shes looking well mate, bet your glad that she has settled now and all is in working order.

Love the vivarium:thumb: Looks like a real good job.

Gonna post a link to my sister as she will be well interested.

Wouldn't fancy seeing that crawling down my stairs:eek:

I imagine they're venemous are they? Nice looking thing though:)

No, Boids (pythons, anacondas etc) are non venomous, they kill their prey by constriction!

The reason she 'looks' venomous is because she is albino.

Ah right. Just learnt something there:)
I saw an anaconda recently at a safari park near birmingham - Absolutely massive:eek:, and just unbelievable:) Must have been a foot thick in its middle, and well over 20 feet long as well:)

Does she roam around the house normally, or live shut away?

The electrics look impressive. I can see how she could work the little buttons on the timer with a fang or the tip of the tail but how will she manage to turn the knob on the pulse thingy?

I'll give it 6 months at best :rolleyes:

LOL! And then I can try the seam welded stuff as you advised! ;)

Yeah the power they have is fairly awsome. She can support her entire weight just by looping a "U" around my arm when I am holding it vertically without slipping down, it feels like a blood pressure cuff! It's a bit like winding an elastic band around your finger, the more winds at the same tension give more pressure, so its easy to see how even relatively small snakes can tackle large prey by throwing several coils around them!

She comes out and is handled every night except for 48 hours after feeding. The reason for this is that handling straight after feeding can induce regurgitation! Also, they maintain a state of super alertness after feeding and tend to be 'very interested' in anything moving! It is important to handle much more than feed, because otherwise they can start to associate your hand coming in with food.... and that is bad! :p

She doesn't roam the house unsupervised, and neither should she:

a) because it is too cold and not humid enough for her long term
b) she heads for the most inaccessible spot and coils up there and takes hours to coax out!
c) with larger snakes its not safe to do so. They are primitive creatures and follow their programming. In a well designed vivarium they feel secure and comfortable. When they are out in the open they tend to go into 'roam' mode constantly seeking out food. There was an example in the US of a 43kg 15 yr old kid who was killed by their free roaming 11ft 24kg burmese python when it mistook him sleeping for viable prey. By the time it killed him and realised he was far too big to swallow it was too late! It grasped him by his foot, probably seeing a warm spot poking out from the covers (their eyesight is very poor but they can sense heat) and mistook it for something edible!

That's not to say it isn't safe to get them out, it is, just under supervision!

Interesting :)

So what about feeding? if you are about to feed the snake it will be pretty safe to assume that its hungry and will go for the "prey" but what happens if youi have the snake out say 24 hrs prior to feeding and he is feeling more hungry than you thought. Do you run the risk of him attacking you or will he associate you as a "none prey" item because you handle him so much?

Do the rats go in live? As Mojo is a python, does he still have to try and strangle them?
I'm just wondering.

A mate of mine had a bloody big lizard and the mice (or what ever they were) always went in alive.

Darren

That is the plan!

Basically, if every time you approach the enclosure results in being fed, it won't take even a snake long to start to associate you with food. If only a small minority of occasions results in being fed then that association is not made as easily.

Others things are to remain as distant and detached as possible at feeding time. I use a long pair of tongs and make sure I don't do any of the normal things I do when getting her out to handle. I don't reach in and don't touch or come anywhere near the snake.

As soon as the food is near her the tongue starts flicking earnestly and she locks onto the scent. Once she gets near she can detect the warmth and see me give it a bit of a wiggle and that is usually enough to prompt a strike! Their poor eyesight is another reason to use tongs. If they smell rat they are going to be looking for a nice warm heat signature.... and more often then not, your hand will look more viable than the already cooling rat!

When handling it is important not to have any scent of anything warm and furry on you! This even means changing clothes or washing if you've been handling dogs for example!

When I'm going to get her out I am quite slow but positive with my actions, and when she comes over to investigate I'll just touch her on the nose to let her know its not feeding time. She will invariably pull back then.

I buy the food frozen, thaw it out and warm it to body temperature. Live feeding is not a good idea as rats can cause unecessary injury biting etc.

I give it a bit of a wiggle and she's onto it. She does still go through the motions and constricts it before swallowing. Apparently some long term captives eventually learn to recognise dead food and when not to bother constricting. It does seem that the length of time she constricts is reducing slowly.

Is there any chance of us all seeing the next feeding session then ?

:D

Next feed is due on Thurs.... I'll see what I can do! :D

In the meantime here is a shot of her striking I took shortly after I got her... I have just shaken the rat and dropped it in front of her...

http://www.drift.net/herpetology/mojo_strike.wmv

(The plate is to prevent her getting a mouthful of bedding btw ;) )

Just one thing...

it looks like the poo is just on some carpet. Do you let the snake roam around the house?...because seriously! my god! it'll shock somebody :D

Jeez thats quick, even the slo mo isn't slow enough :eek:

I let her out for an hour or so virtually every evening under supervision, unfortunately I was distracted cleaning up a huge wee she'd done in her vivarium and she chose that moment to lay a cable on the carpet! :rolleyes: :D